#BIOWC17 – Developments in Biofuels

#BIOWC17 – Developments in Biofuels

By Josie Peterson, 07/25/2017

Advanced biofuels took center stage at World Congress Tuesday morning with a plenary session highlighting “Second Generation Biofuels Poised for Big Wins” moderated by Jim Lane, Editor and Publisher of Biofuels Digest. The panel featured the following speakers:

Pramod Chaudhari – Executive Chairman, Praj Industries Ltd.

Marc Delcourt – Chief Executive Officer, Global Bioenergies

Jonas Markusson – Innovation & Product Development Manager, SEKAB

Hon Dr. Anthony Lynham – Minister for State Development and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Government

Mena Salib – Manager of Aircraft Noise and Emissions, Air Canada

The panel highlighted the gains advanced biofuel companies have seen in recent years; for instance, Mena Salib noted that Air Canada has worked to build a path for aviation biofuels in Canada. As he explained, Air Canada’s biofuel initiatives have seen more consumer acceptance of late, as compared to when they originally began doing test flights.

As the panelists noted, however, there is still significant work to be done. Jonas Markusson described what a “big win” for the industry would look like as “optimizing the value of byproducts.” As he explained, if companies can find ways to elevate byproducts and increase that value, we could see an explosion of biorefineries.

That message of progress was further discussed at a Monday morning workshop focused on “below50: Promoting the World’s Most Sustainable Fuels.” Below50 is a global campaign that works to de-carbonize transportation by growing the use of sustainable fuels with CO2 emissions that are less than 50 percent of conventional fossil fuels.

Just last night BIO was announced as the hub of below50 North America at the 2017 World Congress, and the workshop was the first public activity of below50 North America. Below50 works to create demand for biofuels by creating business-to-business

Today’s panel discussion was moderated by Gerard Ostheimer of below50 and featured the following speakers:

Larissa Rose – Queensland Renewable Fuels Association Inc.

Hans van der Sluijs – Business Director, North America, DSM-Poet

Michael Burns – Novozymes

And, in an exciting development at today’s World Congress, the Queensland Renewable Fuels Association signed a partnership agreement with below50 to scale up the development and use of low-carbon fuels.

About the author

Josie Peterson is a Communications Manager at BIO, covering Food and Agriculture and Industrial and Environmental issues. A farm girl hailing from North Dakota, Josie is excited to be working to promote advancements in biotech.

Prior to joining BIO, Josie worked in the political field advising campaign and public affairs clients. She is a veteran of several political campaigns, including Sen. Joni Ernst, Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ted Cruz. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.